AC Milan continue to plan for the future by protecting their young core but there are still some key renewals that must be resolved, a report claims.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that eight contracts of the current squad were renewed in this calendar year: Theo Hernandez, Tomori, Tonali, Kalulu, Pobega, Krunic, Ibrahimovic and Gabbia, listed from the most to the least expensive.
In addition, the option right for Antonio Mirante was exercised in July and the permenent signings of Alessandro Florenzi and Junior Messias arrived in the summer. The management hope three other starting players will also renew: Rafael Leao, Ismael Bennacer and Olivier Giroud.
Milan have allocated almost €107m for those eight renewals, a figure that includes salaries this season and in the following ones, up until the agreement expires. Some players benefit from the reduced taxation of the Growth Decree, but others do not.
The paper claims that the three remaining renewals – Leao, Bennacer and Giroud – would cost almost the same. When factoring in the salaries being asked for and the gross amount, they would cost the club around €93m, so €200m in total.
Before talking about individual situations, there is obviously a general question because the management of renewals is the most important step for the definition of the future Milan. The owners have always paid great attention to the containment of the wage bill, but maintaining that stance will see big players leave.
It could be that Milan in the future will be based on the income-investment ratio, i.e. the more they collect from sales, the more that will be invested in the squad.
There is another dilemma too: accepting the requests for a big pay rise from players and agents means getting new requests for a pay rise other players in the squad. In all the dressing rooms in the world comparisons happen and salaries are requested in proportion to the earnings of the team-mates. Milan, so far, has managed to maintain a balance but now things get very interesting.
